No-warning triple ejection skews Yankees-Blue Jays game

Things were all going the Toronto Blue Jays’ way, until suddenly, they weren’t. The first five innings saw them sitting on a 3-0 lead in a no-hitter against the division rival New York Yankees. And then came the sixth.

Starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi had his no-hitter broken up by DJ LeMahieu’s leadoff double. Aaron Judge singled and that prompted Charlie Montoyo to bring on Yimi Garcia in relief. Giancarlo Stanton popped one up for what would have been an easy out anywhere in the country. Except in the Bronx. Here, it was a game-tying home run.

The next batter stepped to the plate and Yimi Garcia had a two-seamer get away from him and hit Josh Donaldson. Or at least, that is what the Jays protested. The Yankees, however, were certain that it was a retaliation for Stanton’s home run.

In any case, nobody charged the mound, no words were exchanged, no reaction from pitcher or catcher, or to be fair, from Donaldson himself. But the Yankee dugout did protest. Loudly. This is New York, after all.

In a shock move, Garcia was immediately tossed from the game. No warning. No hesitation. Crew chief and first base umpire Alfonso Marquez simply threw him out. Several Blue Jays coaches ran out onto the field and pitching coach Pete Walker was summarily tossed out of the game as well, barely making it to the plate, much less putting forth his case. I am not sure if I have ever seen a coach thrown out of a game so quickly.

Garcia was livid and had to be restrained by his team mates. Charlie Montoyo protested and while he survived the sixth, he was ejected in the seventh for questioning why the Yankees were allowed to brush back Bo Bichette.

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In two innings, the Jays lost their no-hitter, the lead, their pitcher, and two coaches. The Jays got the lead back, but they were never the same after. Aaron Judge, who led the protest from the dugout that kicked off the entire chain of events, hit a walk-off three run homer to give the Yankees a 6-5 win.

In a season that has been marred by, lets generously call it “questionable” umpiring, this is one of the most unusual events that we have seen. So far.